


The View From Outside

by SpookySusie



Category: Touhou Project
Genre: Awkward Relationships, Christmas Fluff, F/F, Former Hell, Oni, Secret Santa, YuuParu - Freeform, this was also a challenge but I fuckin did it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-25
Updated: 2018-12-25
Packaged: 2019-09-26 18:31:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,310
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17146886
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SpookySusie/pseuds/SpookySusie
Summary: Yuugi and her girlfriend, Parsee, celebrate the holidays in Former Hell.Touhou Secret Santaforraiko-the-gay-drum!





	The View From Outside

**Author's Note:**

> This was quite the challenge to write, too, because, like I said in the Undertale piece, fluff is NOT my strongsuit! But here we go, and I hope y'all enjoy it, especially Raiko!
> 
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Yuugi didn’t usually bring her girlfriend along to oni parties, but it was Christmas, and this was an exception. It also helped that Parsee insisted that she wanted to “party like a true Underworlder,” so Yuugi was ready to take her up on the offer. But Parsee consistently took forever to get ready, and Yuugi was more than ready to get her drink on. 

“Baaaaaabe, let’s go!” Yuugi groaned, jingling her keys at the door for emphasis.

“J-just a minute!” a small voice replied. “I’m...getting my eyelashes on!”

Yuugi snickered. “Why? It’s not like you’re lashless!”

Parsee made an annoyed grunt, and Yuugi took that as a sign to pregame, taking a swig from her flask. It wasn’t enchanted like her friend Suika’s, but it held booze, and that was all it needed. As she mulled over her buzz, Parsee came down the stairs, shawl around her shoulders.

“You don’t have to hide your dress, Par.”

Parsee hugged the shawl closer to her body.

“Or you can, if that’s what you want to do. I support all your decisions!” Yuugi put an arm around her impossibly tiny girlfriend and led her to the oni party. 

Former Hell was quite the lively place, if one knew where to look. Parts of it were completely abandoned, for terrible things happened in certain districts and oni tended to have too much honor to linger in areas where their ancestors or friends were harmed.

But in Yuugi’s own district, named after her surname, things were livelier than ever. Local taverns were exploding with oni. The heavy scents of cinnamon, curry, and oni-brew liquor hung in the air ie a warm blanket, and Yuugi wanted nothing more than the atmosphere to embrace her. 

“Let’s go catch up with Suika!” Yuugi said, hugging Parsee closer and swinging through her favorite hangout. 

Parsee didn’t usually outwardly state her displeasure; rather, she remained quiet, and Yuugi had to search through her layers of body language and eye contact (or lack thereof) to decipher her true feelings. But with the sparkle of her green eyes, it seemed as though she was consenting, so Yuugi led her to the bar.

Suika was tinier than Parsee; though she could will herself to be any height she wanted, she preferred to keep her small stature. But even despite that, Suika was never hard to find. Like Yuugi, she had a pretty high status in the Underground, being one of the original Four, and whenever she did eventually drunkenly wander in, oni fought tooth and nail to tend to her needs, whatever they may be at the moment.

“Hey, asshole!” Yuugi yelled at her ginger friend.

Suika looked up and scanned the room before her eyes landed on Yuugi. She threw her drink and gyoza down and leaped for Yuugi, forcing Yuugi to let go of her girlfriend and catch the flying oni.

“I KNEW YOU’D MAKE IT!” she screamed, vicegripping around Yuugi’s shoulders before swinging her legs up and over her hips. 

“It’s good to see you, too,” Yuugi replied, struggling to breathe beneath Suika’s embrace. Motioning for Parsee to scoot out of the way, she suplexed the tiny oni, forcing her to let go. 

Suika squealed with delight, even when her head and horns crunched into the tatami below them.

After Yuugi helped her back up, giving her a hand, Suika’s eyes flashed. “You wanna fight already? The party hasn’t even started yet.” The muscles in her exposed arms rippled, ready to give Yuugi what she had coming for her.

“Let’s get some food first,” Parsee asserted, in the most assertive way she possibly could.

Yuugi’s heart soared. She had been trying for months to get Parsee to express herself, and it was  _ finally _ working! With the happy thump of her heart, Yuugi said, “Yes! Wonder if they’ve got the usual Christmas specials tonight!”

Suika dusted herself off and, as carefully as she could, gave Parsee a little squeeze. “It’s so good to see you around here!” she exclaimed before ruffling Parsee’s hair.

Parsee flushed and toed the ground, uncertain, so Yuugi swung an arm around her.

“Yeah, it’s been hard, getting her to want to socialize with the rest of us, but I’m sure she’ll have the time of her life!”

Parsee nodded but remained silent, still crimson. 

They found a table and sat together, the three of them, Parsee and Yuugi side by side, with Suika taking up the entire other half. She used the space to her advantage and lounged as much as her tiny form allowed. 

“This place’s been testing out some Western food, from the surface and the Outside World,” Suika said. “Take a look!”

Yuugi knew exactly what she wanted, as a (mostly) obligate carnivore; the honey-glazed ham with a side of Liquid Death (her favorite oni cocktail) sounded perfect for her. But she resisted speaking until Parsee scrutinized the menu. 

After Parsee was silent for a while, Yuugi leaned over. “Are you okay? We can split something, if you like.”

Parsee didn’t say anything to Yuugi, but also ordered the ham...with a much lighter drink than Yuugi’s choices: a simple sake. 

“A classic,” Suika said, satisfied. 

It took awhile for food to make it to their table, so Suika and Yuugi took some time to catch up. Suika was quite the traveler, romping around Surface Gensokyo as much as she pleased, so Yuugi didn’t get to see her much anymore, if at all. This seemed to please Parsee, who couldn’t handle Suika in “more than small doses,” as she put it, but as Suika was Yuugi’s best friend, she felt a little torn.

The best Yuugi could do was cherish these small moments and hope to the gods that Parsee wasn’t too miserable.

But with the way Parsee was dissecting the table and chewing apart her nails, Yuugi felt a pang in her heart. She was about to do a quick check-up on Parsee and see how she was doing, but their food arrived, and Yuugi was quickly distracted.

Parsee seemed to be, too, as she took dainty bites to rival Yuugi’s ravenous tears into the ham. They ate in near silence, though Yuugi picked up on a few jealous stares from Parsee directed at Suika, so once she finished, Yuugi put her arm around Parsee and suggested, “Hey, I’m gonna go out for a smoke. Do you wanna come?”

Parsee nodded.

“Are you not gonna finish that?” Suika asked, pointing to the Liquid Death. 

“Nah, go ahead.”

Suika nodded and slipped her straw in it, and Yuugi laughed, shaking her head. “You’re such a child sometimes.”

“You’re just jealous ‘cause you don’t have a straw,” Suika retorted, taking a noisy slurp from the bottom of the cup.

Yuugi gave her a playful punch in the arm, then departed with Parsee out to the back deck. 

Former Hell tended to have a pretty temperate climate, but with the magic of the oni combined--and their collective nostalgia for their mountain homes--it was snowing. It wasn’t as good as the real thing, of course, as it was a bit more soft than the snow Yuugi was used to on Ooeyama, but it still left a comforting chill across the Ancient City.

Yuugi lit her cigarette, took a drag, and held onto Parsee. “Penny for your thoughts?”

“My thoughts are too expensive. Besides, oni don’t use currency, let alone money from the outside world.”

Yuugi exhaled smoke in a sigh. “Well, you don’t ever gotta tell me what’s going on in that beautiful mind of yours. I just fuss. A lot.”

Parsee shrugged as she bundled more aggressively beneath her shawl. Snow began to dust her hair and cloaked shoulders. “Well...I dunno. Maybe...we could spend some time alone?”

Yuugi quirked an eyebrow. “How so?”

“There’s, um. A spot I wanna show you. Since it’s snowing, I thought it’d be...pretty. I just...need a break.”

“Is it too much out here?”

“Y-yeah...I’m sorry.”

“No, it’s okay!” Yuugi patted her back. “I want you to be comfortable. It was such a big thing that you were able to come at all, even for a few minutes!” When Parsee didn’t respond, Yuugi turned her head to see that she was blushing.

Yuugi’s cigarette was done at that point, so she tossed the remaining its and said, “I’m gonna say goodbye to Suika. You should show me this spot.”

“R-really?”

“Yeah, really! It’s gotta be special if you like it! Wait here.

But when Yuugi went back into the tavern, Suika was nowhere to be found. 

_ Maybe she got distracted. Or too drunk and went home to sleep it  _

She slid open the door to the bar and found Parsee waiting, wiggling her shoes in the snow   
to make little shoeprint patterns in the icy dust.

The Ancient City’s pandemonium eventually faded into the background as they walked up a spiral path Yuugi had seen in passing but never really thought about crossing. She tended to stay in the city.

“It’s really stupid,” Parsee muttered to herself, dropping her hand, “but I really like to sit up here and watch the lights.

“The lights?” Yuugi noticed that Parsee stopped walking and was looking over the city.

“Yeah. You can see all the life, but you don’t have to be a part of it.” She took off her shawl and laid it on the ground before sitting and patting a spot next to her.

Yuugi sat. “Why wouldn’t you want to participate?”

“Because I like observing. People are far more interesting when you don’t interact with them.” She turned her head toward Yuugi slightly, but didn’t make eye contact. “Except for you. I like...interacting with you.”

Yuugi gave her hand a gentle squeeze, earning a yelp and the popping of bones, so Yuugi withdrew her hand. “Sorry.”

“I’m used to it,” Parsee said with a small giggle. “But isn’t this beautiful?”

Yuugi followed Parsee’s gaze over the Ancient City. “I’ve...never seen it from this angle before.”

Some of the districts were dark, abandoned, but the ones that stood for the Four Devas were aglow with energy and Christmas lights. The snow illuminated the lights more, making the hellish world have an almost heavenly glow. It was...relaxing, in ways Yuugi wasn’t sure to describe. She didn’t want to move.

“I see why you like this,” Yuugi murmured.

Parsee adjusted herself to lay in Yuugi’s lap, still looking at the city. “I guess...we’re learning from each other.”

“Hmm? How so?” Yuugi realized she started stroking Parsee’s hair, but Parsee didn’t tell her to stop, so she continued.

“You try to encourage me to interact, and I encourage you to take a step back. We...complete each other.” Parsee reached up and took Yuugi’s hand, interlacing their fingers. “Even like this. My hands are so much smaller, yet…”

“...They fit,” Yuugi finished for her, giving her hand a firm hold--but not a squeeze this time. 

“Can we...stay here a while? Until the city sleeps?” Parsee asked. 

Their eyes met then, and Yuugi saw no venom in Parsee’s eyes, just...love. Relaxation. The beauty of green unmarred by jealous rage.

“Anything you want or need.”

And so they did. Yuugi figured she’d complain eventually, want to stretch her legs or go back to drinking, but this was...almost better than what she could’ve thought up herself. She supposed that was why she needed Parsee, to remind her of the little things she’d be too busy, too wild to miss.

After what felt like about half an hour, Parsee began to drift off. With a grin, Yuugi hoisted her onto her back. “Time to go home,” she said to her girlfriend, and carried her back to the city that she loved to observe so much.

As she promised herself, Yuugi stopped by Suika’s place. The lights were on, so she gave the door a gentle tap--or as gentle as she was capable of. “You good?” she asked. “You kinda disappeared.”

Parsee stirred but said nothing. 

Suika opened the door, looking every bit of a mess Yuugi used to party with. Her hair was disheveled, eyeliner smudged, and she looked pale as all hell. “I forgot how you can outdrink me,” she slurred. “I had to go home. We’ll catch up tomorrow, yeah?”

Yuugi tried not to laugh. She knew she could drink Suika under the table no problem; her body size accomodated for her alcoholic needs. “The humans’re softening you up.”

“Shut up!” Suika giggled. Then she looked at Parsee. “You should take her home.”

“On my way. Take care, yeah?”

“Yeah! Have a good night, dude!”

With the door shut and Yuugi satisfied that her friend was okay, they settled back into the darkening streets. Once they arrived home, Parsee stirred again with a yawn.

“You slept the whole way back here, yet woke up when we got home?” Yuugi teased.

Parsee didn’t say anything coherent, just mumbled into Yuugi’s neck.

“Let’s tuck you in.”

Parsee nodded as Yuugi slipped her into the futon they shared. As she settled in the blankets, she said, “You’re gonna...stay with me tonight, right?”

“Of course.” Yuugi gave her head a pat. “And...thank you.”

“For?”

“For the view! That was hella rad.”

Parsee grinned sleepily, one of her eyelids not behaving her willpower to stay awake. “Anytime,” she mumbled before giving into sleepiness.

Yuugi undressed quickly, then slid into the sheets with her girlfriend, wrapping her arms around her. It wasn’t...a usual situation, no. After all, this was their first winter holiday together. Normally, Yuugi would be tearing shit up til dawn with her oni comrades, but this…

This was nice.

Almost better.

Yuugi wanted to say something about it, but before she could manage to, she fell asleep with her girlfriend.


End file.
